ACM ICN 2017 Travel Grants

The Conference Organizing Committee is working to provide as much travel support to as many conference attendees as possible. For this year we have two kinds of travel support: the ACM SIGCOMM GeoDiversity travel grants and the ICN'17 student travel grants.

ACM SIGCOMM GeoDiversity travel grants are available for attendees in their early career from under-represented countries, based on need, distance to the conference venue, and impact of their attendance in increasing the diversity of conference participation.

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Who Should Apply?

Because the intent of the grants is to increase participation from countries historically under-represented at SIGCOMM sponsored conferences (e.g. Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia), applicants should be from such countries. Applicants should be in their early career (at most five years of full-time, full-level [non-postdoc] post-PhD employment), and may be graduate students or post-docs. The precise amount of funding available and the pool of applicants will determine who can be funded.

The committee strongly prefers applicants who are not paper authors (the committee believes that authors' home organizations should cover costs for authors). Poster authors, however, are encouraged to apply. Other evaluation criteria will include evidence of a serious interest in networking, as demonstrated by project experience. In most cases, no more than one applicant will be funded from each organization. ACM-ICN encourages participation of women and under-represented minorities.

What is Covered?

Support is intended to fully cover travel (economy airfare), registration for the conference, lodging at a hotel, meals, and local transportation. The specific costs will vary for each applicant, and are not expected to exceed $3500 for junior faculty, or $3000 for students. Reimbursement details will be announced to award recipients.

ICN'17 student travel grants are available for students only.

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Who Should Apply?

Any full-time student registered toward a Bachelors, Masters, or Ph.D. degree in a college or university when submitting the application can apply for the ICN'17 student travel grants.

What is Covered?

The level of support provided will depend on the finances of the conference and the needs of each award recipient. The level of support and the reimbursement details will be announced to award recipients.

The application requirements and the level of support depend on the type of grant, as explained above. The remaining information is common to both types of grant.

Selection Criteria

The following criteria will be used in the selection process:

Preference will be given to applicants that do not present a paper in the conference. The
rationale for this criterion is that the participation costs for a presenting author should be
covered by their home institution.

Students presenting posters are encouraged to apply though. The rationale is to support the
participation of students who do not present papers but contribute to the conference in other
ways.

Evidence of a serious interest in networking, as demonstrated by coursework and/or project
experience, will be required. Advanced students close to graduation or in the job market will
also be given priority, when possible.

We also encourage participation of women and under-represented minorities. Special
attention will be given to applicants from minority-serving institutions.

After giving priority to the above criteria, (co-)authors of papers may be considered but will
be given lower priority.

Who Decides?

Applicants will be selected by the ACM ICN Travel Grant Chair.

Application Process

An application consists of:

A. Applicant's 2-page Letter

Page 1

Indicate their affiliation and any other personal information the applicant feels is relevant to support their case.

Indicate evidence that the applicant meets the eligibility criteria above.

Include a brief summary of research interests and accomplishments to date, and plans for future research.

Include their estimated expenses in U.S. dollars for attending the conference (total, and breakdown by conference registration, travel, lodging, and meals). When computing your estimated budget, please use $600/$300 USD as the figure for early registration.

Page 2

Provide a short 1-page vita, focusing on current research interests and recent and pending publications.

B. Supervisor's Letter

Letter from the applicant's current supervisor (e.g., post-doc supervisor, department chair), sent by the supervisor directly (NOT forwarded by the applicant), which:

Confirms the applicant's standing at their institution (date started, current job title)

Indicate current funding status, or explain why the applicant is in need of a travel grant.

C. Colleague's Letter

A separate letter of recommendation from a technical colleague, preferably from a different institution, sent by the colleague directly (NOT forwarded by the applicant), which:

Describes the professional relationship between the applicant and colleague, e.g., discussing their collaboration

Indicates why the applicant would benefit from attending the conference.

Elaborate on the strengths and potential contributions of the applicant.

NOTE: the applicant should submit only (A); (B) and (C) should be sent
directly from the letter authors. The details are as follows.